In an email, Eric Smidt said the settlement would have no negative impact on the business or operations.

"I am very pleased that the lawsuits my father filed against Harbor Freight Tools and me have been fully settled," he said.

The resolution doesn't necessarily resolve the family's acrimonious feud, which was made public by the lawsuits.

Allan is an octogenarian whose wife, Dorothy, is severely disabled. He founded the business in 1968 and it was once one of Camarillo's largest employers. A year ago, Harbor Freight moved its headquarters from Camarillo to Calabasas.

The elder Smidt launched a legal attack against his son in July, after signing over an ownership stake in the company. In the suit, he accused his son of using his relationship with his parents to coax them into giving up control of the family business, which they say he leveraged to enrich himself with extravagant art and property, taking more than $500 million in loans to buy such things as a $20 million Manhattan apartment and a $100 million artwork.

Tensions between the father and son peaked toward the end of 2009 and early 2010, when Eric fired a number of longtime executives and managers who'd helped build the business.

Employees at the company's then-headquarters in Camarillo didn't intrude in the family's personal business. But Lori Day, a manager in the Camarillo office, suspected the replacement of those executives contributed to the familial discord. Day is embroiled in her own lawsuit with the company, alleging sexual discrimination.

"Mr. (Allan) Smidt would still come to the office and try to talk to people he knew, and he'd look frustrated because he didn't know many people and didn't know what was going on," Day told The Star in an interview last year.

Day's case is pending in Ventura County Superior Court and is scheduled for a mandatory settlement conference in June.

In April 2010, Allan approached the company's outside legal counsel with concerns he had about decisions he contended were being made without the board of director's authority, including the firings.

About a week later, Allan learned Eric had him removed as a director. In May, Allan was escorted from the company's headquarters by the new chief operating officer, Robert W. Rene.

Allan filed a second lawsuit in September, naming Harbor Freight Tools and its sister company, Central Purchasing LLC, as defendants.

The suit against the companies sought injunctive relief to reinstate Allan as chairman of the board of directors. It is not known if Allan will return to the company because details of the settlements have not been released.